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POVERTY & MEDICINE
A 1998 Income in a 2026 Economy
The impossible economics of medical retirement and survival
You know the urban myth that says people used to be able to afford — often on one income — a house, a car, and a full grocery cart with money leftover for yearly vacations?
That was true.
My parents divorced in the late 1980s, and each bought a house in the same neighborhood, co-raised two kids (and Mom hosted several foster sisters), and each appeared just fine on a single income. We never wanted for anything, and Mom’s fridge?
It was always full.
The first time I moved away from home, eager to be an adult, I missed that fridge like it was a person.
The cost of living wasn’t like it is today. In 1998, I rented a fairly nice three-bedroom condo in Tempe, AZ for $600 a month, splitting that cost with my two best girlfriends. It was common for young people to have their basic needs easily met, with a bit of money left over to go out and have a good time.
I’m not saying we were rich by any stretch — I lived mostly paycheck to paycheck — but the paychecks actually stretched between the paydays, and life was, nostalgically speaking, easy living.
